This cat puts out way too much music, but I just listened to the Danny Brown "XXX" remixes that he put on his Bandcamp and I thought they were cool. This is the first Knxwledge stuff I've really listened to.

Can someone give me a top 3 or 5 Knwledge albums/EPs/beat tapes that I should check out? I don't know where to start with this guys discography.

What's odd is that I first found about Knxwledge around the same time he released K∆NN∆LOUPE​.​EP. Watching his discrography from then to now has been kind of overwhelming. He started off relatively slow and just started releasing whatever he had laying around on his Mac Book.

For me, the most exciting release this year was an 11minute (actual) beat tape. That may speak as much about the attention span of this listener as much as anything else, but Knxwledge was able to capture more feeling in those eleven 1 minute tracks than some producers could find within a years’ worth of output.Every Knxwledge track I’ve heard doesn’t lend itself to over analysis. Each tune simply alludes to a mood in the manner of the most successful hiphop instrumentals. In Knx.’s case he tends to most often express the personal and sad side of beats, definitely the territory this tape largely occupies. The emotion comes through a real affinity with and mastery of his source material, rather than just another producer sampling soul records. It’s much more than that. I’m sure there’ll be a rap album soon, there really needs to be. His tracks with Blu (both official & upcoming) have found as an apt mc/producer combination as I can think of. A voice that truly fits the backdrops in a way not reached by every aspiring soundcloud rapper claiming Knx.’s instrumentals for their own self promotion.When I chatted to Knx. in 2010 he openly told me he’ll never make 7 minute beats and is unlikely to work on any track for over half an hour. Move onto the next. Therefore in the time I take to write this it’s conceivable he’ll make another EP. Or three. The lack of vowels and the absence of the spacebar in his song titles say more than any Internet blog could attempt to decipher. There is a fluidity about the stream of consciousness song titles and selection of beats though that feels at once effortless and deliberate. It’s amusing if also a bit sad to see producers even biting his typos.Buttrkotch is the ideal length of tape, with the short tracks demanding repeat listens so you’ve listened to the album two or three times while barely noticing. Wintrshun & toffbroshn are current standouts, though I’m aware after listening to a lot of his music that could change in the next five or ten minutes. That simply reflects his ease in communicating transient emotions within very fleeting timeframes.It’s also simply more satisfying to flip the tape than to have the tracks lost in a sea of Knxwledge tracks in your itunes library. The beautiful transparent blue cassette is a reminder this is a DIY bedroom project recorded straight to tape and sounds perfect on that format. The old school portrait (literally) of a young Knx. for the cover echoes an innocent nostalgia inherent in the music. Visually and sonically this album/ep/beat tape just feels right.To any fan of modern instrumental music in general, it makes perfect sense to marry the consistent brilliance of Knx.’s soulful offbeat sketches with the L.A. tape label Leaving Records. Both the artist and label reflect the same sensibilities; to drop projects steeped in straight lo-fi cassette raw beats that are equally conceived like art pieces. It is both this direction and openness I believe to have established Leaving as the most innovative L.A. label within this beat movement, although Matthew David would be the first to state they are by no means a strictly beats only label. Their deal with Stones Throw to distribute their projects on vinyl is really great news as it will bring many underexposed/overlooked artists like Dakim to a worldwide audience.When chatting to the photographer B+ years ago on the elusive qualities that elevate Madlib & Dilla to seemingly unreachable heights in this beatmaking world he put it concisely- there is an emotional reach in their work simply beyond almost every other producer. It has become clear with each near-monthly bandcamp release Knx. is drawing from a similarly endless well and extracting the goods everytime. With his own instrumental voice that’s becoming more defined with each release.It doesn’t matter that he is constantly mining familiar territory of jazz & soul records for his material, or that there are far too many albums/eps to digest at the time of release. Aside from the need to be a truly self-sufficient independent artist, it’s quite clear he simply doesn’t have a choice in this. If Knxwledge can continue to collaborate with such finely curated labels as Leaving, it’s reassuring there will be at least some physical releases to document the progress of one of the most prolific and important artists of his generation. Even if that reflects merely a few percent of what he’s creating.

They key is to not think of it as an album or EP situation. They're beats he makes when messing around and releases. Cop the WHOLE catalogue and throw it all on shuffle while reading or riding the subway. Good money.

They key is to not think of it as an album or EP situation. They're beats he makes when messing around and releases. Cop the WHOLE catalogue and throw it all on shuffle while reading or riding the subway. Good money.

Don't sleep on dude's live sets either.

Yeah, I always put all the music I have from him on shuffle. I finally acquired the rest of his 2012 releases...that's some good shit. Gonna see which 2013 releases I'll buy, maybe just stream them from his bandcamp.